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Rimsha Abid _imshaa — Read it a long time ago in my smut phase (early high school)she's no Steel!

Hadi Muslim climbingelephant — Seriously good book! This is only the second Brandon Sanderson book I've read but I can tell that he is a natural storyteller. In this and in the only other book of his I've read Mistborn: The Final Empire, the first thing you notice is that he hooks you quickly. This is important. There have been a ton of times I've started a book that I put down because it just didn't draw me in or, it did eventually but it took time to gain steam. Not here. The book sets the hook pretty early on and grabs you. The second thing you notice is that he doesn't let up on momentum. Again, I've read books where the hook is immediate but the author can't sustain the stellar beginning so the books starts to drag. Maybe you get some exposition dumps or plot creep, or whatever. No, here the story continues. He presents the mystery of Elantris first and foremost. You feel compelled to read on to see the 'why' and 'what' of it. He also let's the reader in on a few secrets and truths that the characters aren't aware of. Then he places those secrets/truths tantalizingly close to the characters and thereby places the reader on a bit of a razor's edge. You know what is going on when are they going to figure it out? The third thing, and probably the most important, he has the ability to create extremely charismatic characters. In this I will compare him to Guy Gavriel Kay. For me, GGK is the master in creating the unforgettable character who gets under your skin and stays there. That person who is so real you just want to talk to someone about him/her. Sanderson does this as well, albeit to a lesser extent (GGK is after all the master!). The fourth thing, he has a talent for world building and creating magic systems that don't feel like the same old thing you'd read before. This book tells the story of the fallen City of Elantris. A city where all the citizens were god-like magical beings. The Elantris city gates sits right outside the land of Arelon where the book is set. This is the hook, that first thing I mention above. The prologue sets up the story really nicely. The narrative becomes a three part thing told from the point of view of three main characters. Raoden a prince who falls victim to the mysterious Reod -- the malady that caused the downfall of Elantris and still takes victims randomly. When this happens, those poor souls are effectively declared dead and banished into the now dark bowels of the fallen city. But Raoden refuses to be left for dead is determined to unravel the mystery of Elantris. There is also Sharene, Raoden's affianced bride from another country who arrives only to find out that her fiance is now dead and, because of the terms of her betrothal contract, she is now a widow. But Sharene is no wall flower. She is smart, a King's daughter who had been brought up with politics and scheming as her mother's milk. She realizes something is amiss and proceeds to make waves in her new home. And finally there is Hrathen. A high ranking priest of sorts in a religious order sent to hasten the downfall of Arelon. Their king is considered weak and the populace is considered heretical as they worship a different version of the deity. Hrathen sets off a series of plans to bring Arelon to it's knees. These three characters plunge immediately into their plots and thus creating the second thing above, the momentum. They are each working toward their own goal. Each one has a vested interest in Elantris but in different ways. As a reader you can't wait to see when/how they all converge. And while all three characters were very interesting, I found myself most drawn to Raoden. I enjoyed Sharene's intelligence and how she was able to manipulate events and people around her. I also love that she was a catalyst for a lot of the plot moving elements as well. But there was a bit of a Mary-Sueish quality about her. I thought Hrathen was the most fascinating of the characters. He began with a towering conviction that threatened to make him a bit one-dimensional but then slowly over the course of the book his characterization deepened and he took on more hues. He is an antagonist of sorts who surprisingly becomes sympathetic. But it is Raoden who does the heavy lifting for me in this book. He is that third thing, that magnetic character that sucks you in. I loved his chapters. Through sheer force of will and personality he begins the evolution of the city of the dead. I couldn't wait to see what he would do next, who he would convert to his side now? Amidst all this we are treated to learning about Arelon and it's environs, the political and religious landscape and customs. Elantris remains the draw though. The construct of this place and it's people is that fourth thing, that fascinating world build and magic system. What happened to cause such a quick and massive downfall of what was by all accounts a place of wonder? The descriptions of what happens physically to people when the Reod takes them -- they don't have heartbeats, they feel pain and hunger but don't heal, don't really need to eat and can basically 'live' forever. As is Raoden's quest to discover the secret of Elantris' magic. Will he do it? What will happen if he does? The book picks up speed as the schemes of the three start to spin, in some ways out of their own control. The chapters get shorter and shorter the closer they get to each other until finally they do converge. The story was super fun and the conclusion was extremely satisfying. Highly recommended!

Krissi Xenakis kxenakis — Brown traces the complicated co-evolution of science and democracy, and the continued conflict between expert advice and popular rule from Machiavelli through Hobbes and Rousseau, the Progressive Movement, Bruno Latour, and to the modern structure of over 35,000 federal science advisors. Brown thesis is opposed to those who want scientists to retreat politically to the role of "an honest broker." Instead, he shows that in our complex, institutionalized system of government, science acts as an "anti-politics", where an appeal to science can trump political concerns. In this environment, where scientific knowledge is so privileged, political actors will perforce learn ways to counter science, by introducing fake "controversies" or attacking the personal credibility of scientists. I believe that we today face major collective challenges, about climate change, peak oil, new diseases, and a host of other issues, and that we cannot simply randomly walk into the future and survive. Expertise will be a vital part of of our future, and if experts are to be credible, they must move out of the marbled halls of power, and appeal directly to the people. Despite it's heavy topic, Science in Democracy is written in a clear and minimally jargon filled style. This is a book that everybody should read.